Crew Had Only Seconds To Ditch Flaming Navy Jet

November 08, 1990|By A.J. PLUNKETT Staff Writer

VIRGINIA BEACH — Two crew members aboard a Navy A-6E Intruder had only seconds to react to a fire, point the jet away from a crowded beachfront and eject to safety before the plane crashed Tuesday barely a quarter-mile off the Virginia Beach shore, Navy officials said.

"The total time to react to knowing they had a fire in the airplane, to looking outside and seeing the glow under the airplane, to yelling at each other to eject was, oh, 10 or 15 seconds," said Capt. Kent Ewing, operations officer for the Atlantic Fleet's Naval Air Force on Wednesday.

The crew took several more seconds to ensure the jet fighter was heading out to sea before actually abandoning the flaming, fuel-laden aircraft, which had taken off from Oceana Naval Air Station on a training mission just before it crashed at 10:18 p.m. Tuesday, Navy officials said.

Meanwhile, on Wednesday another Intruder from Attack Squadron 42 at Oceana crashed in an alfalfa field about eight miles west of El Centro, Calif., also while on a training mission, according to the Associated Press.

The second plane's pilot and navigator, who were not identified, ejected safely, Navy officials said. The plane, which crashed about 3:15 p.m., came down about 50 feet from a house, spraying debris over a 200-yard radius. A fence near the home caught fire but the house was not damaged.

Witnesses said the Intruder that went down Tuesday night barely missed hitting a Virginia Beach hotel before crashing into the Atlantic Ocean.

"These guys did pretty good," Ewing said. "I think they handled this one right well."

Both crew members, who the Navy refused to identify by name, ejected safely from the fighter, parachuting into a residential section of Virginia Beach, near 24th and Arctic streets, said Cmdr. Steve Honda, a naval air force spokesman.

The pair, a 29-year-old lieutenant who piloted the jet, and a 34-year-old lieutenant commander serving as bombardier-navigator, are assigned to Attack Squadron 176 and received only minor injuries.

Debris from the flaming aircraft rained down on a residential area but caused only minor property damage, said Navy and Virginia Beach police officials. No one was injured on the ground.

An official investigation is under way, Honda said.

The incident Tuesday began at 10:13 p.m. as the A-6E Intruder taxied down Runway 5 at Oceana and became airborne, said Navy officials.

Upon takeoff, the jet was traveling at more than 200 miles per hour on a flight path that would take the fighter over a crowded beachfront to the open sea, officials said.

Moments after takeoff, an indicator light in the cockpit, which seats two men side-by- side, sent out a warning: possible fire aboard the aircraft.

As the pilot reached over to cut off the warning light, another light came on indicating a fire in the left engine, Ewing said. Seconds after that a third light came on warning of fire in the right engine.

The pilot and the bombardier-navigator to his left looked over their shoulders to see the orangish glow of a fire behind and below them, Ewing said.

The navigator radioed for help as the pilot checked the jet's flight path to make sure it was heading for dark ocean waters.

The jet crashed at 10:18 p.m., about three miles northeast of the runway and a quarter-mile offshore, directly out from 28th Street, Navy spokesmen said.

To eject, each crew member would have reached for ejection levers either above their head or between their legs, Ewing said. Pulling the levers, first one, then the other would ignite small rockets underneath their cockpit seats.

The rockets would skyrocket the pair upward, the top back of their seats just shattering the plexiglass canopy overhead before their helmets did.

Shot upward 120 feet and still strapped to the seats, a parachute popped out from each seat automatically, providing an orange-and-white canopy above each officer that carried them slowly to the ground.

Parts of the cockpit canopy, ejection seats, portions of the wing and other debris from the jet washed ashore Tuesday night and Wednesday, and was recovered by salvage teams, Navy officials and witnesses said.